Favorite Things Friday #10

Dave's birthday was a week ago so I'm a little behind. But I've been wanting to post this and I'm taking the opportunity today.

A little bit about Dave:
He is a genuine big kid. He loves sugar cereals. He loves getting the t-shirt or other special offers on the back of the sugar cereals (one of the very few things he ever asks me to do for him). He is a collector of hats (mostly of the beanie sorts). Come winter time and we start digging through the hat/glove bin, I'm always amazed that we probably could clothe the heads of an entire elementary school.

His words, "Now we can be a modern family!"

He is such a good father to Charlie and Pete. He gets down on their level, ya know. He understands them, he loves them, he entertains them. They love him too. Recently, Charlie has been clapping and cheering when Daddy comes home from work.

He loves what he does at work. He loves the people he works with. That makes me happy. He is currently re-reading the Harry Potter books in his free time.

Never is a complaining word uttered from his mouth. He is gracious to me for everything I do. He is thoughtful and considerate. He is nonjudgmental. He is a man of integrity. He is practical, incredibly intelligent, and thrifty. He'll eat anything I make, except for some squash I made when we were dating but I apparently didn't cook it enough, so....

He has a few really good friends, whom of which will be his friends for life. He has a soft spot for cats because of his childhood, long-living friend, Silver.

And, he is a great dancer---the real reason for which I married him. Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Favorite Things Friday #9

I love free giveaways. Emergency Essentials is a neat website where you can order just that...emergency essentials. They also have a blog that gives little tid bits about food storage, what you need, that sort of thing. Last year for Christmas, my parents gave us Emergency Essentials gift certificates and I just barely ordered a bunch of #10 cans of food storage. If you get hooked up with their e-mails, they let you know when they are doing giveaway contests. I've already posted their button on my family blog and I got a $10 gift certificate in the mail about 3 days later.

And here is, yet, another chance to get a $10 gift card. Try out their food storage analyzer. It is free to set up an account where it asks you how many people are in your family. Then you enter what you have in your food storage. It calculates how many days your food storage will last, the nutrients available in the food you have and the kinds of foods you need to add. I thought it was very useful! With my little family of 4, we could survive 35 days with what I entered in the analyzer! Pretty neat, huh?! Check it out and get your $10 card.

Favorite Things Friday #8

Jelly Bellies!



My favorite flavors are:

Cinnamon
Pink Grapefruit
Root Beer
Black Licorice
Peach
Dr. Pepper

What are your favorites?

Garden update

For those of you who haven't heard me rant and rave about Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, well, just go to his website, get the book at the library and contemplate the possibilities. In a weekend, we got our garden up and running. We planted from seed: beets, radishes, two kinds of lettuce, carrots, onions, beans, sweet peas, cucumbers, squash, and green peppers. Then we transplanted our three tomato plants. We are learning what things we like to grow and where to strategically plant them so they don't take over the sunlight of some poor unsuspecting lettuce plant. Here is what it looked like when things were just starting to sprout in May:

And here is today:

That monster in the middle there is apparently a bush tomato plant of the grape variety. It looked so small and innocent when I bought it at Lowe's. It is taking over and we keep having to support it up and up. Ya, probably not going to get that kind again next year. Or maybe we'll have to make that support system Mel talks about.

Another view. We replanted some more lettuce and sweet peas because we want more of them. And our green peppers are a little slow to grow, that's what the little ones are.

Our carrot box is doing so-so.

Here are just a few pictures of our harvest, though tomatoes, peas, beans, and lettuce are not included because we are constantly harvesting them.

Look closely and you'll see two tiny frogs playing in the lettuce. We love that the frogs like our garden and hopefully they keep the bugs in check.

Favorite Things Friday #7

I had the best tasting, most tender, melt-in-your-mouth nectarine today. I'm pretty sure they are my favorite fruit. Nectarines are said to be a "mutant" peach. They are genetically identical to peaches but nectarines have a recessive gene that makes them fuzz-less.

If I like nectarines so much, then other people must like them too. Why, then, are there not nectarine-flavored things like yogurt or candy or recipes for nectarine pie or crisp? Nectarine-flavored gum, jelly bellies, fruit juice, ice cream, jell-o, or chewy vitamins.

Someday I'd like live in a place where I can grow nectarine trees and pick them perfectly ripe. That would be nice.

Favorite Things Friday #6

So I took a bit of a vacation from FTF. But I'm back and committed to keep postin'. Today's feature: Good friends and bubbles. I'm convinced, it really doesn't get better than this.

Anna, the cutest little girl in golden curls you've ever seen!

Favorite Things Friday #5

Square-Foot Gardening--the simplest way to garden. All I did was follow Mel Bartholomew's book and website and wala! I'm a gardener. I'm convinced the soil mixture is the secret: 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 of a variety of composts.

With a 4 x 4 foot square, we've planted:
onions, 2 varieties of lettuce, 3 varieties of tomatoes, beets, squash, radishes, beans, peas, cucumbers, and peppers! And our carrots have their own box that is a little deeper. We transplanted the tomatoes but everything else we started from seed.

Here are my radishes up close. Check back in a few weeks and I'll have tomatoes.

Favorite Things Friday #4

I have an unhealthy addiction to watching Gilmore Girls. 7 seasons sure takes a long time to watch. I've been checking out DVD's and watching them constantly...I mean constantly for 10 weeks now. These people and their lives have become REAL to me. They are people I know. Call them friends. Only it is pretty one-sided. Not pretty, IS one-sided. I'm gonna need to get my own set of these DVD's because this is going to become a yearly 3 or so month event. Had I an extra $200, I could buy the complete series on ebay. I need, I need...Hummmm, Mother's Day is coming up.

Forgotten...Favorite Things Friday #3

Oops, I'm already behind.


Ode to Tulips

um....Okay, I'm not a poet. But if I were I would write a very nice poem about tulips and why I think they are a wonderful flower. My favorite.

Happy Earth Day

Ever since I learned the word "biodegradable" as a Brownie Girl Scout in the 3rd grade, I have tried to respect this planet Earth. Hug a tree here, pick up litter there. Reuse, reduce, recycle. It seems the trend these days is "Green". Everything and everyone is turning "green". We have a new grade school being built down the street that is "green" with solar panels etc. People roll their eyes, but I say the "greener" the better! Call me naive, but I don't care if it is the trend, as long as people are making an effort I think it is a good thing.

Favorite Things Friday #2--Gripe Water

"Here I come to save the day!!!" (Mighty Mouse singing voice) Behold, Gripe Water, the best stuff ever. In the middle of the night, a gassy baby won't sleep for anything. If the baby isn't sleeping, neither is anyone else. Weeping, wailing and gnashing of gums is immediately soothed with 2 tsp. of this nectar sent from Heaven. Ginger and Fennel extracts with a touch of Chamomile settle the gassy stomach and all is well again. Zzzzzzzz.....

Double stroller

We got this Valco baby stroller for $90 at a local consignment sale. It is in good condition and works pretty well for our needs. If only it will stop raining so we can get out and use it!

A dang good haircut

...if I do say so myself.

Favorite Things Friday #1

Maybe a weekly thing will keep me committed to this blog. In no particular order...just things that make me happy.



Yummy Japanese vinigarette-like sauce. A Japanese neighbor of mine recently brought over some cucumbers with roasted sesame seeds soaked in Ponzu sauce and I am addicted to them! It is such a nastalgic taste to me and just transports me back to Japan. The sauce is used with lots of Japanese dishes like Shabu-shabu and Yakiniku, some yummy dishes that I'll have to save for another Friday.
Here is the recipe to make your own if you can't get to an asian market, however, you might need to go to the asian market to get some of the ingredients. :o)

Ponzu Sauce

Yield 2 1/2 cups

Time 15 minutes, plus 2 hours

Mark Bittman

Summary

Homemade ponzu will keep for several days with no loss in quality.

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup fresh lemon juice, more to taste
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice, more to taste
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1 cup good-quality soy sauce
• 1/4 cup mirin (or 1/4 cup sake and 1 tablespoon sugar)
• 1 3-inch piece kelp (konbu)
• 1/2 cup (about 1/4 ounce) dried bonito flakes
• Pinch cayenne

Method

• In a bowl, combine all ingredients. Let sit for at least 2 hours or overnight. Strain. Just before using, you might add a small squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice. Covered and refrigerated, ponzu will keep for at least several days.

Source: The New York Times

Back from hybernation

Apparently, the Shell has been very covered for a very long time. I want to regroup here and get back to bloggin'!